Posted on 12/04/2009 5:49:30 AM PST by wzevonfan
Here is a list of 2012 candidates. Generally, I am dwelling on the negatives as this is what is going to limit them in their ability to win but will mention any unique positives.
Please share your thoughts on these or any other potential candidates.
Romney - Romneycare is an albatross. He is a Mormon which impacts appeal. Is popular in Michigan due to his father. Sometimes comes across like a used car salesman. Is probably more conservative than his record and gets a bad rap due to his need to make compromises to get elected in The People's Republic. Big question is can he rally a base that will be disenchanted with his record on social issues and healthcare.
Giuliani - Personal life has historically been a mess, pro-choice, pro-gay at times limiting appeal to social conservatives. Superb defense and fiscal credentials. Comes from NY and has appeal on Long Island and in the suburbs. Like Romney, could carry a significant blue state. Can he rally a base that will not be happy with his position on social issues?
Huckabee - Willy Horton II, clemency issue is big and can be distilled down into a 15 second spot. Fair Tax is legitimate conversation in fiscal conservative circles but sounds radical to moderate voters. Is a minister and has impeccable social conservative credentials. Talks about god too much at times which can be a strong negative to "casual Christians" for lack of a better term. Big question is can he carry DC suburbs, Philly suburbs and Ohio suburbs along with western states like CO, NM, and NV due to staunch social conservative positions.
Jindal - Young, maybe too young. Has had a meteoric rise. Severe media bias against due to his potential. Resulted in horrible reviews of prime time rebuttal which has stuck with voters. Is not investigating ACORN despite scandal. Has a few out of the mainstream catholic views and has even participated in exorcisms. Big question is will media bias torpedo his candidacy before it even begins.
Brownback - Will have only been governor for two years but has a long track record in the senate. Lacks name recognition of other candidates due to lack of controversy. Has strong social conservative credentials, supports a flat tax and has been generally pro-defense. Is typically on the conservation not environmental side of most issues. Big question is can I guy with very little name recognition gain the spotlight in the primaries.
Pawlenty - Decreasing popularity in own state. Is an evangelical who was raised catholic. Has managed to win in a state that is very liberal/independent. He has liberal views on the environment and has a nuanced track record on health care which will be easy to paint negatively. Is likely more conservative than record due to need to compromise. Big question is can he rally a base that will be unhappy with positions taken on the environment and healthcare.
Gingrich - Personal life has been a mess and opens him to charges of hypocrisy. Pretty severe media bias has subsided due to him no longer being viewed as a threat. Big question is can he overcome messy personal history and gain support with social conservatives.
Palin - Media Bias, Media Bias, Media Bias!!!!! What else can you say. She has a great record but so much damage was done during the last campaign. The Couric interview always comes up and the left/press seems truly terrified of her. The uninformed and stupid tend to believe what they hear and think she is an idiot. Big question is can she make a significant enough dent in her negatives and fight the media bias to have a shot.
McDonnell - Just dominated in the Old Dominion by running a smart campaign focused on fiscal issues. Will only have 3 years of executive experience but is running a large, sophisticated state. Has that thesis paper that the press will hammer away at but which helps reinforce his social conservative credentials. Big question is can he replicate his success on the national stage.
The other question of course is if the Dems continue on the current path will it even matter who gets nominated due to Obama bungling virtually everything he touches.
I think we all assume he is a GOPer but he has not made that clear one way or the other. I like his defense credentials but just don’t know anything else about him.
Really? Do you remember where you read all of these articles?
"Seemed odd but that was what was reported."
Do you believe as fact anything that you see reported? If it seemed odd, did you check any further to find out whether or not it was true?
"These are the sorts of things that get picked up in primaries and can torpedo someone though."
Yep, especially when folks like you spread untruths by writing them as fact on a widely-read forum.
Makes one wonder about your true agenda.
This website doesn’t support Socialists, please take it somewhere else.
To which I replied:
A few of the RINOs might believe this. The Democrats want all non-Democrats to believe it.
Anyone who really does believe it is not paying attention.
No boring, conventional white man is going to win the White Hut back from the communists. No RINO of either gender is going to win the White Hut back from the communists.
The communist media has already told us, day in and day out, long, hard, continuously, and most viciously, who can win the White Hut back from the communists.
The commies are not afraid of any RINO. They are not afraid of Huckster, McCain, Rudy, Romney, Pawlenty, Jindal(hey, did you know that Jindal is not a Natural Born Citizen -- you'll damn sure find out if the commies succeed in getting him into the GOP nomination), Haley Barbor, etc., etc., etc., RINO ad nauseum.
The top of the ticket is Sarah Palin, or bust. Perhaps we'll have Michele Bachmann in the #2 spot, maybe not, but the communist media have also told us the same about her.
Palin / Bachmann 2012 -- is the communists' and their lamestream media's worst nightmare, and they tell us this day in and day out, over and over and over and over, for anyone who is willing to listen.
I recall that during the summer that Jindal was under pressure to set off an Investigation of ACORN over the Voter Fraud issue and the Embezzlement issue. LA is uniquely responsible due to ACORNs HQ being in New Orleans. Now, I do not recall which publications this was in. It would have been something I reached off of Drudge or RCP since those are the two sites I read multiple times a day so it easily could have been Politico, The Washington Times, The NY Times or all three. This link to Michelle Malkins blog captures the tone I recall at the time:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/06/acorn-watch-louisiana-investigates/
All this does is open up Jindal to charges that he was soft on ACORN. Additionally, every time someone mentions Jindal to three people I am close too, they are all quick to shout about him being soft on ACORN. (Which likely clouded my statement)
Now, the ultimate question is why did he resist immediate calls to investigate them after the election? I am certain that is because he did not want to open himself up to charges of abusing his power and pushing a “politically motivated investigation of a charity that trys to help poor people, blah, blah, blah.” I think given Palin’s treatment, it was wise for him to proceed carefully.
At a root level I think Jindal is going to be a superstar. All you need to do is look at what he has done at such a young age and that is clear. Additionally, the fact that he is not an old white male and has a great life story, he is even more appealing.
Regarding my agenda, it was to find something interesting to discuss on what was expected to be a quiet Friday.
Wouldn't it be more principled to move to a state where you can be a good guy by not stealing people's money and freedom, and still get elected?
Former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico is considering a run.
He is a cut glass fiscal conservative. Cut spending dramatically, reduced the number of state employees, vetoed more bills than the other 49 gov’s combined.
My two cents.
No way Jose! Governor Goodhair should be retired to his ranch.
Unfortunately we have enough problems in Texas with truthfully only him and KBH in the race. A good candidate, Debra Medina, grassroots organization is growing slowly and it is unknown if it will be enough to send both packing into retirement.
Your list has 4 truly national candidates: Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee and Palin. Romeny does have the most experience (business-wise and political-wise of all) but I don’t believe electable for many reasons, however RomenyCare is not highest on the list of his detractions. Huckabee and Giuliani are both progressives with a liberal bent. Huckabee in all areas, Rudy not so much (Rudy should serve several terms as Governor of NY before trying again). Huckabee, even though following state law and governor perogotive has hit his Willie Horton moment. Palin, yes has media bias against her but other things for her in voters minds.
Of this group in 4 years, IMHO Sarah Palin can recover. She needs to let the people see her first hand and not through the MSM.
Newt is toast, he’s from another era and will not have a chance. As well as losing most of his former appeal to many many voters. He sold out in reaching across the aisle lately and this has tarnished him greatly in the eyes of many.
The rest are all local wonders. Jindal, Brownback, Pawlenty and McDonald ... IMHO local flash in the pans. Have done nothing to garner a true nationwide base of support. These names are never mention in Texas circles that I have discussions with, in any serious thoughts of consideration for support.
Ron Paul can stay home too. No serious consideration of him will ever be seen again. He is a wild card, a loose cannon that can seriously jeopardize America as badly as the current president.
I’m hoping, against hope maybe, to see Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter come forward again. I would like to see and hear more of Pence, DeMint and Coburn ... then again losing them in Congress at this time could be a negative.
I also hope to see the RNC and even the DNC to remove the Party-controlled Primary rules currently in place. The National Parties along with the MSM pick the candidate ... the voters are not in this formula at all.
DOA. Flaming Social Liberal with a radical open borders position on Immigration.
Hunter/Demint. Forget the pretenders.
That was certainly a well thought out response. You stated, “I also hope to see the RNC and even the DNC to remove the Party-controlled Primary rules currently in place. The National Parties along with the MSM pick the candidate ... the voters are not in this formula at all;” that touchs on a thought I’ve had for some time, i.e., that there’s certainly something amiss with the way the “parties” are functioning these days. And of course, we’re all aware of the problems with MSM having sold out and having abandonned their traditional role, but that’s an entirely different topic. I’m utterly unimpressed by any of the current crop of potential candidates; most have no real grounding in traditional conservative values and this has caused a near melding of the two parties at the center. As a result, each election cycle we seem left with nothing other than the choice between the lesser of the evils; which of course means we’re left with an evil of one form or another. The feel I have for this is that the “party” system has broken down in much the same way the entire system has broken down, i.e., that the National organizations have way too much control, money, influence, etc. and thus the local organizations have lost any real ability to guide or direct the national organizations. One example of how this isn’t working is that the so-called Platforms are largely ignored altogether. Another huge problem that this has caused is that Candidates aren’t properly vetted and feel totally unaccountable to the “folks back home”. The mess this has caused is rapidly spinning out of control because, as seen in the last election, our elections are causing more and more extreme swings of the political pendulum such that we seem to get less workable, stable economic direction and policy. It may be the case that the only way out of this mess is to somehow capture some of the “fire-in-the-belly” of these tea party movements to inspire people to vociferously participate in their local party apparatus such that they can wrest some power away from the amorphous, largley independent National organization. I don’t know; it’s just a thought. Maybe it has something to do with the way the parties are funded, but I’ve never had the luxury of the time to research that matter. However, on the surface, it does appear that the entire funding system for these elections is completely out of control.
Yea well, considering the speed with which the Obama agenda is moving, if anyone is going to shoot me in the ass, they’d better use a scope because it’s a rapidly shrinking target!
I think Tiger Woods is a shoo-in for the Democrats ;-)
I agree completely. We need to make sure we are running conservative alternatives to the current crop of legislators in 2010.
I agree. Wholeheartedly.
Vetting surely has been shown a major problem in this last election as no entity (State or National) will take responsibility for doing it.
The National Parties can fix themselves, however my guess is they do not want to at this point. The MSM will never again report as they are into manufacturing the news.
Funding is a major problem. One ‘fix’ I’d like is get the $1.00 on the IRS form to be for National Debt repayment and not election payments.
I agree, very good response glide625.
I agree. None of those listed do anything for me.
Sniff, sniff?.
This country doesn't need someone with his Romneycare background, especially seeing as the liberal/socialists are hell bent on trying this nationwide, even though poll after poll show it to be wildly unpopular.
Sorry, Romney is done (imo).
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